College football players of the week: Week 6, 2026
Oklahoma's 27-24 upset of No. 1 Texas in Dallas produced two of the three: Peyton Bowen's 42-yard interception return for the go-ahead touchdown with 10:07 left and Tate Sandell's 47-yard field goal on the final play. South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers accounted for five touchdowns, four of them passes, in a 38-19 win at No. 16 Florida.
Five touchdowns against a ranked team on the road, four passing and one rushing, with no turnovers. It was 10-10 when his 12-yard pass to Mazeo Bennett Jr. with 1:47 left in the first half put South Carolina ahead for good. Florida kicked a field goal early in the third quarter to get within 17-13, and Sellers answered with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Murph and a 1-yard run with 1:08 left in the quarter, then found Lex Cyrus for 21 yards and a 38-13 lead with 8:07 to play. It was South Carolina's first win in Gainesville since 2014. Indiana's Nick Marsh was the close call: his 75- and 44-yard touchdowns, the second on fourth-and-1, turned a 17-6 fourth-quarter deficit into a win at previously unbeaten Nebraska. Marsh decided a tighter game, but Sellers produced more against a ranked opponent.
Runner-up: Nick Marsh, Indiana: 6 catches, 187 yards, 2 TD (75 and 44 yards, the second on fourth-and-1 with 7:13 left) in a 20-17 win at Nebraska
W Oklahoma 27, Texas 24 · vs No. 1 Texas in Dallas
7 tackles; 1 INT returned 42 yards for a touchdown
His interception return decided a three-point win over No. 1 Texas in Dallas. Lloyd Avant's 2-yard run had tied it 17-17 with 14:48 left when Arch Manning, scrambling away from pressure, threw toward Cam Coleman; Bowen picked it off at the Texas 42 and returned it for a 24-17 lead with 10:07 to go. Texas tied it again, and Courtland Guillory's interception at the Oklahoma 39 with 19 seconds left set up the winning field goal. That was the other play in the running, but Bowen's scored. Georgia's Chris Cole had the best all-around line against a ranked team, with 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack in a 20-17 win at No. 6 Alabama, but none of his plays swung a game the way Bowen's did.
Runner-up: Chris Cole, Georgia: 8 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 1 sack, 2 pass breakups in a 20-17 win at No. 6 Alabama
W Oklahoma 27, Texas 24 · vs No. 1 Texas in Dallas
2 of 3 field goals (53 and 47 yards; missed from 53), 3 of 3 extra points; the 47-yarder came on the final play
He won it from 47 yards on the final play against No. 1 Texas. Texas's Gianni Spetic had missed from 53 with 1:54 left in a 24-24 game, and after Guillory's interception gave Oklahoma the ball at its own 39 with 19 seconds left, John Mateer's completions of 13 and 20 yards to Isaiah Sategna III set up the kick. Sandell's 53-yarder in the third quarter had cut Texas's lead to 17-10, after he missed from the same distance before halftime. Oklahoma's other special teams score came from Danny Okoye, who blocked a punt that Dakoda Fields recovered in the end zone to tie it 7-7. Kentucky's Brock Coffman returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown in a 35-34 overtime win over No. 10 LSU, but Sandell's kick ended a game against the No. 1 team.
Runner-up: Brock Coffman, Kentucky: 55-yard punt return for a touchdown that put Kentucky ahead 14-10 in a 35-34 overtime win over No. 10 LSU
One player per slot, judged the way the power rankings judge teams: what happened on the field, against whom and where. Production counts, and so does the opponent. A big game against a good defense or on the road beats the same numbers at home against a bad one, and a play that decided the game beats one that padded a lead. A great game in a loss can still win if nothing else comes close.
NFL awards follow the league's format, AFC and NFC, and go up on Tuesday morning, a day before the league names its own. College awards are national and go up on Sunday morning. Where there's an official pick (the NFL's, or Walter Camp's for college offense and defense), it's listed under ours, agree or not.
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